THE ANNOTATED LIST: CLASSICAL MUSIC; Masur's Mendelssohn, a 'Great Day' and a New Grove

No sooner has the company opened its season, with its first production of Verdi's ''Aida,'' starring Deborah Voigt and conducted by its artistic director, Placido Domingo, and a new production of Rossini's ''Cenerentola,'' starring Jennifer Larmore, than it takes a left turn, importing the Kirov Orchestra from the Maryinsky Theater in St. Petersburg for three performances. Here Mr. Domingo lets Valery Gergiev conduct, instead taking the stage in his occasional guise as tenor, in a program of Wagner: the first act of ''Die Walkure'' and the second of ''Parsifal.'' Today, Wednesday and Friday. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles (213-972-8001).

''ROBERTO DEVEREUX''

To open the New York City Opera season, Lauren Flanigan, the company's reigning diva, challenges her sainted predecessor, Beverly Sills, on Ms. Sills's own turf, as Elizabeth in Donizetti's opera named for an earl who, loved by the queen, loves another. Fernando de la Mora plays Roberto. Mark Lamos directs the new production, his first of two at City Opera this season (with ''Acis and Galatea''), to add to his three revivals (''Turn of the Screw,'' ''Tosca'' and ''Madama Butterfly''). If he doesn't have his own office in the house, he should. Opens Tuesday. New York State Theater.

LUCIANO PAVAROTTI

In all likelihood, as things are going, this great tenor's career will end not with a whimper but with an amplified bellow, like the one to be expected here, in an event undoubtedly tied to the release of a new album from Decca, ''Pavarotti and Friends.'' (The Decca-friendly ''friends'' include Mary J. Blige, Tracy Chapman, the Eurythmics, Enrique Iglesias, George Michael, Savage Garden and others. The album, which benefits the War Child Charity, is scheduled for release in October.) Thursday. Madison Square Garden (465-6741).

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

When Leonard Slatkin conducted the New York Philharmonic in Mahler's version of Schumann's ''Rhenish'' Symphony last May, most fine distinctions fell victim to lackluster playing. Perhaps Mr. Slatkin is faring better with his own orchestra in the Mahler-tinged Beethoven festival that opened its season on Thursday. The next concert (following a recital of Beethoven violin sonatas by Pamela and Claude Frank on Wednesday) offers Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and ''Coriolan'' Overture as well as the Bach-Mahler Suite: actually a conflation of Bach's Second and Third Orchestral Suites, in which the distinctions are far from fine. (Beethoven's Ninth Symphony follows in one of two Mahler versions -- the Hamburg, if you must know -- on Sept. 16 and 17.) Thursday. Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington (800-444-1324).

Here is another festival colored by Mahler, this time Mahler the composer rather than the conductor, to open the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's season. (After the official gala opening on Friday, that is, with Yo-Yo Ma playing cello concertos by Saint-Saens and Lalo.) In the festival, Daniel Barenboim and the orchestra perform works by Mahler alongside pieces by American composers presumably influenced by him or otherwise somehow related: Gershwin, Varese, Elliott Carter and Augusta Read Thomas. The logic of the combinations, evidently meant to be revelatory, is not in every case transparent. (''Des Knaben Wunderhorn,'' with its prevailingly gentle folkish cast, paired with Varese's riotous ''Ameriques''?) Saturday-Sept. 29. Symphony Center, Chicago (888-294-3550).

Kurt Masur achieved one of his first seeming miracles with this orchestra already weeks before he officially took over as music director in 1991, achieving a rare lightness and grace in a concert of Mendelssohn at Tilles Center on Long Island. And that same chemistry of conductor, orchestra and composer has continued to work wonders in the years since. So the idea of a minifestival of Mendelssohn to open the season is most welcome. Well, actually, the season opens with a mere taste of Mendelssohn, the ''Italian'' Symphony sandwiched between works of Mozart and Strauss, some with the soprano Kiri Te Kanawa as soloist, in a gala concert. But then come three weeks of glorious Mendelssohn, all conducted by Mr. Masur: the ''Italian'' rematched with two overtures and the Violin Concerto, featuring Sheryl Staples, the orchestra's superb principal associate concertmaster, as soloist (Sept. 21-23, 25); the incidental music to ''A Midsummer Night's Dream,'' with John de Lancie as narrator, and Danielle De Niese and Margaret Lattimore as vocal soloists (Sept. 27-29, Oct. 3); and the wonderful oratorio ''St. Paul,'' with the Westminster Symphonic Choir, and Christopher Maltman and Ian Bostridge among the vocal soloists (Oct. 5-7, 10). A great way to start, but how do you sustain that kind of magic throughout a season? Sept. 20. Avery Fisher Hall.

STEVE REICH

The Miller Theater, saluting the composer as the winner of Columbia University's William Schuman Award, opens a fascinating and varied season with two concerts of Mr. Reich's music performed by Steve Reich and Musicians. Both programs offer the groundbreaking Music for 18 Musicians; the best of the rest may be ''Different Trains,'' in the second program only. (The ensemble returns to close the Miller season with Mr. Reich's ''Desert Music'' and ''Tehillim'' on May 24.) Sept. 21, 23. Miller Theater.

ISAAC STERN

Before the official opening of its season, Carnegie Hall takes time to salute its president in honor of his 80th birthday. Mr. Stern, who recently underwent heart surgery, was not scheduled to perform in any case. Instead, he leaves the music-making to family and friends. His sons, David and Michael Stern, conduct the Symphony Orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Music in a Sunday evening concert with famous soloists too numerous to mention. Earlier that day there are young artists' concerts in Weill Recital Hall and family concerts in the main hall. On the Saturday, there are Stern films in Weill Recital Hall and an exhibit in the Rose Museum. Sept. 23, 24. Carnegie Hall.

''QUEEN OF SPADES''

The list of firsts begins with Tchaikovsky's opera, which is given its premiere performance at the Lyric Opera, in a new production by Graham Vick. Vladimir Galouzine, Katarina Dalayman and Bo Skovhus make their company debuts in a cast that also includes Felicity Palmer and Nikolai Putilin. But the big news is in the pit, as Sir Andrew Davis makes his first appearance on the podium as the company's music director. Opens Sept. 23. Lyric Opera of Chicago (312-332-2244).

''BASICALLY BACH''

This little festival, now in its eighth year, has produced memorable performances, none more so than Walter Hilse's reading of Bach's ''Art of Fugue'' on the church's organ in 1995. In this Bach year, the 250th anniversary of the composer's death, the series revives that performance and adds a variety of others, including an account of the B minor Mass by the Gregg Smith Singers, and a reading of the ''Goldberg'' Variations by the fine harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper. Sept. 23, 24. St. Peter's Church, Lexington Avenue at 54th Street (935-2200).

''DON GIOVANNI''

The Metropolitan Opera opens its season with a Mozart classic in Franco Zeffirelli's monumental production, which needs big stage personalities to make it work at all. Fortunately, some are at hand, in Bryn Terfel, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Renee Fleming. James Levine conducts. Opens Sept. 25. Metropolitan Opera House.

NASHVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

As a native of Wisconsin, I well remember the excellent job Kenneth Schermerhorn did of building the Milwaukee Symphony into an ensemble that was always respectable and often better, culminating in a Carnegie Hall debut in 1972. In recent years, Mr. Schermerhorn has been testing his wiles in Nashville, and here is a welcome opportunity to gauge the results in another such debut. At around the same time, Naxos should be releasing recordings of Hanson's First Symphony and Ives's Second by Mr. Schermerhorn and the orchestra. Sept. 25. Carnegie Hall.

From the time of his defection from the Soviet Union, in 1987, this pianist has made clear that he does want to be judged by the typical bravura standards of the Russian school of pianism (if there is such a thing). And indeed, he has successfully carved out a personal profile, although it may be a lower one than some had hoped for him, possibly including himself. Here he shows one aspect of that profile, a specialty in Bach, playing the first book of ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'' in the yearlong Mannes Bach 2000 series. Sept. 27. Mannes College of Music, 150 West 85th Street (496-8524).

October

''THE GREAT GATSBY''

Maybe it will do John Harbison's fledgling opera good to get away from the Met and all the hoopla that surrounded its premiere there last December. Here it is in the same production but with cast changes at a house more accustomed these days to the rough and tumble of contemporary work. Opens Oct. 2. Lyric Opera of Chicago (312-332-2244).

* CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

For those making appointed rounds, the last concert season in New York was exhausting, in large part because of Carnegie Hall's newly adventurous programming, with extensive Perspectives series devoted to Maurizio Pollini, Pierre Boulez and Daniel Barenboim. This orchestra and its music director, Christoph von Dohnanyi, effectively brought down the curtain (if not the roof) on that Carnegie season with a cataclysmic performance of Varese's ''Ameriques'' in May, and now they raise the curtain on a new one: again adventurous, with Perspectives series allotted to Mr. Pollini, Mr. Barenboim and Peter Serkin, but perhaps a bit less frenetic. The Cleveland concerts set the tone on the second evening, with the New York premiere of Hans Werner Henze's Requiem, and the third, with the New York premiere of Magnus Lindberg's ''Cantigas.'' More traditional fare is typically expected for an opening-night gala, and Mr. Dohnanyi complies, with Schumann's Second Symphony, which this orchestra plays like no other (just wait till you hear the immaculately skittering strings in the scherzo) and Brahms's Second Piano Concerto, with Mr. Pollini as soloist. Works by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Berio round out the series. Oct. 3-5. Carnegie Hall.

''B-A-C-H''

Bruce Brubaker, a pianist on the faculty of the Juilliard School, has conceived one of the more imaginative series for this Bach year, surveying music written under the influence of Bach, by composers ranging in the first program alone from Johann Caspar Fischer and Mozart to Shostakovich and Philip Lasser, in performances by Juilliard students. Mr. Brubaker's equally imaginative concept last season, Piano Century, was undercut in at least one marathon program by a surfeit of so-so selections in so-so performances. More concentrated programs in consistently top-flight performances would have served better. And here again, the first program, with works by no fewer than 11 composers, is not entirely promising on those counts. Oct. 3. Paul Hall, Juilliard School, 60 Lincoln Center Plaza, at 65th Street (212-769-7406).

* GLASS'S FIFTH

When it came to a Fifth Symphony, Philip Glass evidently felt the weight of history (as who would not?). This is a sprawling work in 12 movements, beginning ''Before the Creation,'' passing through all manner of creation, ''Joy and Love'' and ''Evil and Ignorance'' to ''Death,'' ''Judgment and Apocalypse'' and ''Paradise,'' before ending in ''Dedication.'' The texts are catholic (not Roman) in scope, drawing on seemingly every major language and tradition. First performed at the Salzburg Festival last year, the work now opens the seasons of both the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the Next Wave Festival of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Dennis Russell Davies, who presided over the premiere, conducts the orchestra, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and the Dessoff Choirs. Oct. 4, 6, 7. BAM Opera House.

''DEAD MAN WALKING''

You saw the movie; you may even have read the book. Now hear the opera, in its premiere. The music is by the company's composer in residence, Jake Heggie, and the libretto by Terrence McNally. Patrick Summers conducts and Joe Mantello directs a cast including Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade and John Packard. Opens Oct. 7. San Francisco Opera, War Memorial Opera House (415-864-3330).

MARILYN NONKEN

This adventurous pianist performs Ives's ''Concord'' Sonata, virtually a program in itself, alongside works by Michael Finnissy, an English composer. Ms. Nonken, who seems positively to revel in challenge, returns with Jean Barraque's famously difficult Sonata of 1952 in a program of that composer's music, which also features Ensemble 21 (Nov. 15), and she rejoins Ensemble 21 in an evening devoted to music of Karlheinz Stockhausen (Feb. 22). Oct. 12. Miller Theater.

* ''FIDELIO''

The old production of Beethoven's opera at the Met worked well enough but always seemed a bit empty after the harrowingly memorable Jon Vickers left it. Here in a new staging, Jurgen Flimm, who directed the new production of Wagner's ''Ring'' cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany this summer to lukewarm reviews, makes his Met debut with a first cast that looks on paper to be almost ideal: Karita Mattila, Ben Heppner, Falk Struckmann and Rene Pape. But in this work, the orchestra is, potentially, at least as big a star as any of those, and James Levine is sure to have the Met's humming and singing. Opens Oct. 13. Metropolitan Opera.

The brilliant young pianist celebrates the 10th anniversary of his North American debut, playing Beethoven's Sonata No. 17, Schumann's ''Carnaval'' and Brahms's Sonata No. 3. Oct. 14. Carnegie Hall.

SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON

First, how many venerable performing-arts auditoriums are allowed to live to 100 in America today? Second, of those that are, how many are worth celebrating for their acoustics as well as their physical beauty? One, for sure. Seiji Ozawa, Keith Lockhart and John Williams conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a gala concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of this acoustical gem (as it presumably remains, though I have not heard it since permanent risers were installed on the stage a few years ago). Oct. 14. Symphony Hall, Boston (617-266-1200 or 888-266-1200).

AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA

The orchestra and its music director, Dennis Russell Davies, conclude their three-season series of ''20th-Century Snapshots'' with four thematic programs. The first, ''Pacifica,'' explores Asian influences on American music, with works by Melissa Hui, Chinary Ung, P. Q. Phan and Lou Harrison. Oct. 15. Carnegie Hall.

CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER

After opening its season with a program of concertos by Vivaldi and Bach (Sept. 13), the society gets down to more typical business here, introducing a new commissioned work by Bruce Adolphe, the society's education director and a composer (and lecturer) with a fine self-deprecating humor, evidently caught here in a millennial mood. His ''Thousand Years of Love'' is sung by Sylvia McNair, and instrumental works by Bach and Dvorak fill out the program. Oct. 15, 17. Alice Tully Hall.

NDR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Christoph Eschenbach, who is said to be a prime candidate to succeed Kurt Masur as music director of the New York Philharmonic in 2002, appears with his own orchestra, from the North German Radio. Midori plays Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, and the orchestra adds Weber's ''Freischutz'' Overture and Schoenberg's orchestration of the Brahms G minor Piano Quartet. Oct. 16. Carnegie Hall.

''THE LOVE FOR THREE ORANGES''

The New York City Opera has had fun with this Prokofiev opera in the past, and advance reports suggest that it will do so again. The new production by Richard Jones, who directed ''Titanic'' on Broadway and Wagner's ''Ring'' at Covent Garden in London, comes from Opera North in Britain, where it met with some acclaim. It is sung in English translation, a practice that already seems a throwback in this age of supertitles. Opens Oct. 17. New York State Theater.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY CHOIR

As if St. Thomas Church were not making enough good music with its own choir of men and boys, it has now started to bring in the best of such choirs from around the world. Here is one, which was founded sometime between 1065, when Edward the Confessor consecrated the abbey, and 1479, when an official choirmaster is known to have been on board; it was lifted to its greatest international prominence under unfortunate circumstances, with the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997. James O'Donnell, the newly appointed choirmaster, conducts. Oct. 17. St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue at 53rd Street (664-9360).

ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Stravinsky will fall in flurries and heavier amounts in both the Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center seasons. Here is a quick blizzard, as Hans Vonk conducts two programs of nothing but, including ''The Rite of Spring,'' ''Orpheus'' and ''Petrouchka.'' Oct. 18, 19. Carnegie Hall.

Gidon Kremer's crack ensemble makes its Carnegie Hall debut, with ''Eight Seasons,'' a conflation of Vivaldi and Piazzolla, and a work by Peteris Vasks, an Estonian composer. Oct. 20. Carnegie Hall.

SONIC BOOM 9 FESTIVAL

Some of New York's leading new-music performers collaborate in three landmark American works of the last half-century: John Cage's Variations IV, Terry Riley's ''In C'' and Steve Reich's ''Vermont Counterpoint.'' Oct. 20. Great Hall, Cooper Union, Third Avenue at Seventh Street (279-4200).

MONTREAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Charles Dutoit, the orchestra's music director, likes big, brash, colorful works, and he has found them in two programs including Orff's ''Carmina Burana'' and Falla's ''Vida Breve.'' Oct. 21, 22. Carnegie Hall.

MURRAY PERAHIA

This superb pianist has been impressive in his first Bach recordings. His elegant touch should admirably suit the ''Goldberg'' Variations, which he plays here, along with Busoni transcriptions of Bach, and on a new CD from Sony Classical. Oct. 22. Avery Fisher Hall.

BARD MUSIC FESTIVAL

So much is invariably said and performed during the two weekends of this festival at Bard College in August that you always have to wonder how much remains to be broached at Lincoln Center, especially about so familiar a subject as ''Beethoven and His World.'' But the Beethoven works performed here, in an afternoon chamber concert as well as in the evening concert devoted to the oratorio ''Christ on the Mount of Olives'' and the Mass in C, are unhackneyed, and perhaps the discussion at the morning symposium will be, too. The artistic directors are Leon Botstein, who conducts the American Symphony Orchestra in the big concert, and Robert Martin. Oct. 28. Alice Tully Hall; Kaplan Penthouse, 165 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center (721-6500).

EOS ORCHESTRA

This ensemble, founded and conducted by Jonathan Scheffer, got its start five years ago, with a festival devoted to the music of the novelist Paul Bowles. Much has changed. Eos is now well established, and Bowles, who attended that event, died last year. But the orchestra returns to its roots with another program of his music (and surrounding events), including the premiere of the ''Romantic Suite.'' Oct. 29. 92nd Street Y.

''RINALDO''

The New York City Opera has in recent years become a mostly wonderful place to experience Handel, with often excellent singers well suited to the roles, and lively productions. Here the countertenor David Daniels takes the title role, and other fine performers include Christine Goerke and Lisa Saffer. Harry Bicket conducts, and Francisco Negrin directs. Opens Oct. 31. New York State Theater.

''THE GOGMAGOGS: GOBBLEDYGOOK''

The gogmagogs being the performers, seven British string players. It is far from clear to what extent the music is classical or is even the point of this exercise. The London Times described it mostly in negatives: ''A new event form, neither musical spoof, concert, gig, dance nor drama but something more radical than the sum of those parts.'' Yet from this and other descriptions, it sounds like fun: enough so that the theater is counting on a two-week run. And besides, it's Halloween. Opens Oct. 31. Miller Theater.

When the New York Philharmonic released its first big box of archival CD's three years ago, some wondered at the absence of Mahler's music. When it released a box of Mahler the next year, some wondered at the absence of Bernstein performances. Bernstein re-entered the mix last year, in a collection of American music, and now it is all Bernstein all the time. The repertory, in 10 CD's, ranges from Bach (with the conductor playing harpsichord in the Fifth ''Brandenburg'' Concerto in 1959) to Henze (the premiere of the Fifth Symphony in 1963). Also noteworthy are 80 minutes of Wagner's ''Gotterdammerung,'' with Eileen Farrell and Jess Thomas, from 1970; the premiere of Ives's Second Symphony, from 1951; and a disc devoted to 20th-century music with discussion as well as performances. (But again, no Mahler.) October. New York Philharmonic Special Editions.

November

TOKYO STRING QUARTET

This group, which is said to have found its stride again after several changes in personnel, here offers a fascinating program of isolated quartet movements, woven around the four movements collected as Mendelssohn's Opus 81. Along with the inevitable -- Schubert's ''Quartettsatz'' and Beethoven's ''Grosse Fuge'' -- come works by Mozart, Webern and Gyorgy Kurtag. Nov. 1. 92nd Street Y.

* ANDRAS SCHIFF

This excellent pianist, who appears to have absorbed entire composers into his head, heart and very being, especially Bach, provided the most enduring memories of the last Bach year, 1985, for many listeners in New York, and he is on his way to doing the same this year. He presented superb concerts of the composer's keyboard suites in the spring at Lincoln Center, and now he picks up the thread a few blocks away with both books of ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'' and the ''Goldberg'' Variations: seemingly billions of inspired notes, to which Mr. Schiff is sure to add many more in well-gauged embellishments. Nov. 4, 8, 11. Carnegie Hall.

ALICIA DE LARROCHA

Although it used to be that few could rival this venerable Spanish pianist in the lovely music of her homeland like that represented here, by Granados, Monsalvatge and Turina, her appearances of recent years, including an ill-advised solo recital at Carnegie Hall, have tended to be depressing. But her concerto performance last month at the Mostly Mozart Festival won favorable comment, and perhaps Ms. de Larrocha can still summon magic in this smaller solo setting. Nov. 4. 92nd Street Y.

''COPLAND: THE EARLY YEARS''

When a composer's actual anniversary finally rolls around these days, after the inevitable premature celebration and oneupsmanship of other kinds, it comes as a surprise. Well, here the Copland centennial is, almost, after a year of anticipatory hoopla, and the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, N.Y., begins a series of programs to usher it in, with Lukas Foss, a friend of the composer's, joining forces with the contemporary-music ensemble Continuum. The series, which includes a birthday bash on Nov. 14, a daylong symposium on Nov. 20 and concerts on Friday evenings throughout January at the museum, is presented in connection with an exhibit, ''Aaron Copland's America'' (Nov. 4-Jan. 21). Nov. 5. Grace Auditorium, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (631-351-3250).

BAVARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Lorin Maazel impressed even a skeptic as the composer of a major work, Music for Cello and Orchestra, which he conducted with this orchestra, and Mstislav Rostropovich as soloist, in 1996. Here Mr. Maazel is both conductor and soloist in a recent work, Music for Violin and Orchestra. Then he doffs the fiddle to finish with Mahler's First Symphony. Nov. 6. Carnegie Hall.

MUSICIANS FROM MARLBORO

The Marlboro Music Festival, which just presented its 50th season of concerts, continues the celebration here. The pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Richard Goode, who took over as artistic directors this summer, join as soloists in Bach's Concerto in C for Two Keyboards (BWV 1061). Also on the program are Dvorak's Wind Serenade, which was shaping up wonderfully in recent rehearsals, and Mendelssohn's String Octet. Nov. 10. Carnegie Hall.

''RIGOLETTO''

The New York City Opera does its bit in anticipation of the imminent Verdi year, the 100th anniversary of the composer's death, with a new production of this masterpiece by Rhoda Levine. Gaetan Laperriere takes the title role first, turning it over to Mark Delavan in the spring. Opens Nov. 11. New York State Theater.

This period-instrument band enters its third season with new music directors in place: Fabio Biondi, an Italian violinist, and Christophe Rousset, a French harpsichordist. This situation promises more active involvement from the top than the venerable harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt seemed willing to provide. Meanwhile, that gleeful meddler and fiery presence Reinhard Goebel, a fiddler at the heart of the vibrant early-music scene in Cologne, Germany, directs the season-opening concert, plying a specialty in the music of Baroque Dresden. Works by Heinichen, Veracini and other composers represented here have proved irresistible in Mr. Goebel's recordings with Musica Antiqua Koln. Nov. 13. Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street (212-840-2824).

PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA

All that celebrating you've observed during the last year was for the orchestra's 100th season. Now, finally, comes the 100th anniversary, and Wolfgang Sawallisch conducts a gala concert with Andre Watts, Sarah Chang and Thomas Hampson as soloists. Then it's on to the completion of the new concert hall and, presumably, more parties. Yet for sheer conspicuous expenditure and display, probably none of them will rival the party to end all parties, the annual worship of that eye-catching beauty and acoustical lemon of a concert hall, the Academy of Music. Nov. 16. Academy of Music, Philadelphia (215-893-1999).

ANDREA BOCELLI

How does Andrea Bocelli's natively beautiful but slight and meagerly controlled tenor voice fare in opera? Not well, to judge from reports of a stage appearance in Massenet's ''Werther'' in Detroit late last year. But here, following up on his fourth album of Verdi arias, just released, is an ample opportunity for all to judge: a complete recording of Puccini's ''Boheme.'' Barbara Fritolli sings Mimi, if anyone cares (Philips didn't seem to in its preliminary press announcement), and Zubin Mehta conducts the Israel Philharmonic. Count on one thing only: sales figures should be phenomenal by operatic standards. November. Philips.

''CROESUS''

Record collectors these days can glean at least a vague sense of what it must have been like in the mid-Baroque, with a grand new opera or two appearing every year. Unearthed here is a 1730 work by Reinhard Keiser, who in his 1740 obituary was called ''the greatest opera composer in the world.'' Rene Jacobs conducts the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin and a cast including Roman Trekel, as the famously wealthy king, and Dorothea Roschmann. November. Harmonia Mundi France.

December

''CHRISTMAS ORATORIO''

As they did for a ''St. Matthew Passion'' in 1998, Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic import the choir of Bach's old church, St. Thomas's in Leipzig, for one of the composer's major works, and this time they let the choirmaster, Georg Christoph Biller, Bach's successor as cantor there, conduct. A pity, though, that having gone so far, the orchestra presents only half of the work: the first three cantatas. Yes, many in the typical Philharmonic audience would flee at every opportunity, but many others would savor a rare experience. Dec. 6-9. Avery Fisher Hall.

''IL TROVATORE''

Perhaps the best service the Met can offer Verdi with the approach of the Verdi year is to retire that awful production of this opera from 1987, with its huge peripatetic columns. A new production, by Graham Vick, is installed here. The cast includes Marina Mescheriakova, Dolora Zajick, Neil Shicoff and Roberto Frontali, and Carlo Rizzi conducts. Opens Dec. 7. Metropolitan Opera House.

TALLIS SCHOLARS

This masterly English choral group, led by Peter Phillips, was the cornerstone for the establishment of the invaluable Gotham Early Music Foundation five years ago, and it remains a permanent fixture. The scholars here perform works from Tudor England: Christopher Tye's ''Missa Euge Bone'' and music by Tallis (of course) and Taverner, John Sheppard and Osbert Parsley. Dec. 7. Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, Park Avenue at 84th Street (800-627-6166).

''PELLEAS ET MELISANDE''

If the manifold mysteries of Debussy's opera can be evoked in concert, these may be the performers to do it. Pierre Boulez conducts the Cleveland Orchestra, with Richard Croft and Christiane Oelze in the title roles, along with Gilles Cachemaille and Nathalie Stutzmann. Dec. 7, 9. Severance Hall, Cleveland (216-231-1111).

The founders of Bang on a Can and the Bang on a Can All-Stars, David Lang, Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon, have evidently rounded up all their friends, performers (103 vocalists and instrumentalists by one count) as well as composers (a dozen or more), for this big bang, which lasts eight hours and should resonate well into the new millennium. Dec. 10. BAM Opera House.

STAATSKAPELLE BERLIN

Daniel Barenboim conducts all nine Beethoven symphonies. Memories of a previous cycle of these works that Mr. Barenboim led in Carnegie Hall, with the Orchestre de Paris in 1982, are by no means uniformly happy. But these players, though they spend most of their time in the pit of the Berlin Staatsoper, which Mr. Barenboim directs, at least have the music in their blood, as can be heard in a new companion recording of the symphonies, from Teldec. Dec. 11-13, 15-17. Carnegie Hall.

OLIVIER MESSIAEN FESTIVAL

Messiaen we seem always to have with us these days, but a concentrated dose is still welcome. Here are three substantial programs: two song cycles, ''Poemes Pour Mi'' and ''Chants de Terre et de Ciel,'' performed by Elizabeth Farnum and Philip Bush; ''Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus,'' played by Hakon Austbo, a Norwegian pianist; and ''Visions de l'Amen,'' by Mr. Bush and Marilyn Nonken. Dec. 14. Great Hall, Cooper Union, Third Avenue at Seventh Street (353-4196).

''MESSIAH''

A painfully full round of performances of Handel's masterpiece in New York last season confirmed prior impressions that the performance by the St. Thomas Choir and Concert Royal, conducted by Jerre Hancock, is now the one to hear if you're hearing only one. Once again, it is enhanced by the presence of Julianne Baird as soprano soloist. Dec. 19, 21. St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue at 53rd Street (664-9360).

AULOS ENSEMBLE

Can't get enough of Christmas music? Then the Metropolitan Museum, with its terrific series of seasonal concerts, is where you want to spend December. This annual offering, by a small period-instrument ensemble, is typically the gem, and promises to be so again this year. The excellent baritone Sanford Sylvan is the guest for a program of Moravian Christmas music and Bach. Dec. 21. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Perhaps the finest Bach harpsichordist active today in New York, Mr. Brookshire was not given nearly enough exposure in this Bach year. Here he sees it out with a performance of ''The Art of Fugue,'' in a multimedia production with a score projected in contrasting colors. Although arguably appropriate for New Year's Eve, the light show hardly seems necessary; Mr. Brookshire is sure to provide fireworks of his own and do justice to Bach's monumental summation. Dec. 31. Merkin Concert Hall.

January

''DOKTOR FAUST''

It is not so surprising that the Met ignored this famous Busoni work of 1925 in recent decades, though Christopher Keene and the New York City Opera caught up with it in 1992. But it is surprising that the Met never saw fit to investigate it early on. James Levine conducts, and the singers include Thomas Hampson in the title role, Katarina Dalayman and Robert Brubaker. The staging, by Peter Mussbach with set designs by Erich Wonder, comes from the Salzburg Festival, its co-producer. Jan. 8. Metropolitan Opera House.

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Meanings? ''To what extent is Tchaikovsky's music autobiographical?'' asks Joseph Horowitz, the festival consultant. ''To what extent programmatic?'' Zdenek Macak and the New Jersey Symphony devote three weeks to investigating the matter studiously but will probably not suffer at the box office, for the specimens on the lens include Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, Violin Concerto (with Gil Shaham as soloist) and ''Romeo and Juliet'' (in Taneyev's version for vocal duet). Related events include a performance of Tchaikovsky's mellow and transcendent Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by Nikolai Kachanov and the Russian Chamber Chorus of New York at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton (Jan. 19); a showing of Ken Russell's film biography ''The Music Lovers'' at the Newark Museum (Jan. 24); an autobiographical lecture by Mr. Russell at Taplin Auditorium in Princeton (Jan. 25); and a symposium led by Mr. Horowitz with Mr. Russell and others at Robeson Hall in Newark (Jan. 27). Jan. 10-28. New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark (888-466-5722), and other locations.

Will there be a life after the Boston Symphony for Seiji Ozawa? To judge from the experience of other conductors, even so eminent as Herbert von Karajan and, way back, Mahler, the politically charged Vienna State Opera is not necessarily the one basket in which to put a lot of eggs, but Mr. Ozawa is sure to maintain his cherished connection with the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan. Here he brings back the festival's orchestra, with which he gave a fine series of Brahms performances in 1991, with a sterner test: Mahler's Ninth Symphony. Jan. 11. Carnegie Hall.

LORIN MAAZEL

What to give the man who has everything for his 70th birthday? A Carnegie Hall debut. Not as conductor or even composer, of course (Mr. Maazel has been there and done all that), but in recital as a violinist. He has played the instrument since childhood, but in these circumstances, the glamorous pianism of Yefim Bronfman can hardly be deemed mere accompaniment; in Brahms's three violin sonatas, Mr. Bronfman may be hard put to keep from stealing the show. Jan. 16. Carnegie Hall.

* ''A GREAT DAY IN NEW YORK''

This three-week festival by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center takes its inspiration from an unlikely source: a 1950's photograph of 50 or so legendary New York jazz musicians. Fred Sherry, the cellist, had the notion of first arranging a similar photo of classical musicians, then basing a concert series on it. Each of six programs cuts a swath of 8 to 10 composers, 52 in all, in kaleidoscopic succession, making bedfellows of Elliott Carter, Philip Glass and Michael Torke; of Charles Wuorinen, David Del Tredici and Tania Leon; of Milton Babbitt, Meredith Monk and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. And here in the first program, of Joan Tower, Steve Reich and Peter Schickele. The concept gives new meaning to the term ''melting pot.'' (A series of related events, including performances by the composers themselves, takes place at Merkin Concert Hall from Jan. 13 to Feb. 9.) Jan. 16, 21, 26. Alice Tully Hall.

FOCUS FESTIVAL

Of all the musical events to attach to the 100th anniversary of Verdi's death, this may be both the most peripheral and the most far-reaching. Joel Sachs's acclaimed annual series of contemporary-music concerts at the Juilliard School takes ''One Hundred Years of Italian Music Since Verdi'' as its theme this year, and no, don't look for a lot of Puccini and Respighi. The big names here are Dallapiccola and Berio; and expect to make the acquaintance of the likes of Stefano Gervasoni and Luca Lombardi. Jan. 26; Jan. 29-Feb. 2. Juilliard Theater, 155 West 65th Street (212-769-7406).

NEW YORK GRAND OPERA CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA

Vincent La Selva and his scrappy little company are no latecomers to the 100th anniversary of Verdi's death. They have been presenting all of the composer's operas in chronological order in their summer series in Central Park over the last seven years, building toward a climactic flurry next year. And here is the very day of the anniversary, which the company commemorates appropriately with Verdi's great operatic liturgical work (or is it the other way around?), the Requiem. The company's performances require a certain indulgence from the listener, which is not always easy to grant even amid the hubbub of the park, let alone in Carnegie Hall, but perhaps this performance will rise to the occasion. Jan. 27. Carnegie Hall.

GOTHAM CITY BAROQUE ORCHESTRA.

The group is not familiar, to this listener at least, but the music is: Vivaldi's ''Estro Armonico'' (Op. 3), a magnificent, kaleidoscopically varied collection of 12 concertos, half here and the other half on March 21. Indeed, several of the concertos are doubly familiar, heard more often in arrangements for other instruments by Bach. Jan. 31. Casa Italiana, Columbia University, Amsterdam Avenue at 117th Street (854-7799).

* THE NEW GROVE DICTIONARY OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS

When this magisterially authoritative and comprehensive work was published in 20 volumes in 1980, much was made of the fact that the last previous edition of the original Grove was 20 years old, and thus outdated in more than mere details. In the 20 fast-paced years since, the New Grove has kept apace to some limited extent, with specialized spinoffs, but the basic point applies with like force. And here is the remedy: a heavily revised second edition in 29 volumes of print and now also available on line. The numbers are daunting; for a few: 30,000 articles, 4,500 contributors, a $4,850 list price for the print edition. Alas, Dag Henrik Esrum-Hellerup, the Danish composer invented by Robert Layton and spirited past the 1980 editors, bites the dust. One hopes that felicitous touches will survive: the spelling of Gilles de Bins Binchois's name with paragraph initials by David Fallows, for example, in a Binchoisian sportive gesture. January. Grove's Dictionaries.

February

CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR

This was one of the more interesting and unconventional pianists to make it to the final round of the Van Cliburn Competition in 1993: too much so actually to win. His passions include Bach and Messiaen, and here it is Messiaen's expansive ''Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus'' that will occupy the evening (seemingly every nook and cranny of it): the second performance of the demanding work in New York in less than two months. Feb. 3. Miller Theater.

Zubin Mehta devotes the first of two programs with the Chicago Symphony to Berlioz's outsize operatic masterpiece: here Part 1, with Deborah Voigt, Jon Villars and Roman Trekel as the vocal soloists. Part 2 follows next season. Feb. 8-10. Symphony Center, Chicago (888-294-3550).

''WHEN MORTY MET JOHN''

When Franz Xaver Ohnesorg arrived as the new director of Carnegie Hall, last season, most of the program for this season had been laid out by his predecessor, Judith Arron, leaving room only for fine tuning. Here is something he did manage to slip in, a little festival devoted to the influential American avant-gardists Morton Feldman and John Cage, and to New York in the 1950's. Concerts on each of the three days feature the Flux Quartet; Margaret Leng Tang, a pianist; and Joan LaBarbara, a vocalist. In addition, there are discussions, films and a guided tour of artworks by Rauschenberg, Guston, Johns, Kline, Rothko and others in major museums. Feb. 9-11. Weill Recital Hall.

''THE MAKROPULOS CASE''

The soprano Anja Silja has found compelling operatic vehicles from the beginning of her career (I vividly recall her Senta in Wagner's ''Flying Dutchman'' at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1968) to the present. Here, in Nikolaus Lehnhoff's acclaimed production of Janacek's opera from the Glyndebourne Festival in England, she plays Elena Makropulos, reportedly to a T. David Atherton conducts. Opens Feb. 11. BAM Opera House.

SWEDISH RADIO ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR

Eric Ericsson, a veteran choral director and something of a cult figure, conducts these forces and the Eric Ericsson Chamber Choir in Verdi's Requiem, one of several performances of the work this season, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the composer's death. Feb. 11. Avery Fisher Hall.

LES ARTS FLORISSANTS

This elegant French group's performances are simply not to be missed, whether given in concert or staged. Or semistaged with choreography, as here, in Purcell's ''Dido and Aeneas'' and Charpentier's ''Acteon.'' William Christie, the guiding spirit, conducts. Feb. 14. Alice Tully Hall.

NEW YORK CHAMBER SYMPHONY

Gerard Schwarz conducts a favorite work of his and mine, Brahms's D major Serenade, along with Dohnanyi's ''Konzerstuck'' for cello (with Janos Starker as soloist) and Janacek's ''Idyll.'' Feb. 17, 18. Alice Tully Hall.

VOX VOCAL ENSEMBLE

Heard a lot of music by Robert Parsons lately? Heard any? Even early-music fans may know little of this Tudor master, but George Steel, the director of the Miller Theater and the conductor of this group, is determined to lift Parsons into prominence in three concerts culminating a two-year research project and presenting all of Parsons's surviving music. Here are the English choral works, to be followed by the consort music and songs (Feb. 21, with Robert Isaacs, countertenor, and the Parthenia Viol Consort) and the Latin choral works (March 27). Feb. 20. St. Paul's Chapel, Columbia University, Broadway at 116th Street (854-7779).

Programs of all Stravinsky and all Mahler are hardly unusual this season, but Michael Tilson Thomas's choices here are by no means the most obvious: from Stravinsky, ''Agon,'' the ''Symphony of Psalms'' and ''Persephone''; and from Mahler, the Adagio from the 10th Symphony and ''Das Klagende Lied.'' Feb. 21, 22. Carnegie Hall.

SERGEY SCHEPKIN

Vladimir Feltsman is hardly the first Russian-born pianist to carve out a specialty in Bach (among the recently deceased alone, there were Sviatoslav Richter and Tatiana Nikolayeva), nor will he be the last. Mr. Schepkin has made fine recordings of the ''Goldberg'' Variations, which he plays here, and other works by the composer. Feb. 22. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

JESSYE NORMAN

In a ''Songbook'' series, Ms. Norman explores the literature for soprano over the centuries, with James Levine at the piano. Audience members, it is said, will get to choose the encores (presumably within limits). Feb. 24 (also March 1, 6). Carnegie Hall.

ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKE'S

As the Bach year begins to fade into memory, it may be worthwhile to pause and consider Bach's influence on later composers, as some imaginative programmers have already begun to do. In the case of Mahler, one connection is obvious: Mahler's conflation of two Bach orchestral suites into one, which Sir Roger Norrington offers here. But there are undoubtedly deeper and more revealing relationships as well. Carrying the theme through, Sir Roger presents Bach's Cantata No. 199 (''My Heart Swims in Blood,'' with the soprano Emma Kirkby) as a forward-looking creation, perhaps pointing toward Mahler, and Mahler's Fourth Symphony as a backward-looking creation, reminiscent of Bach. Feb. 28. Carnegie Hall.

March

VIENNA PHILHARMONIC

Great head meets great heart, as Pierre Boulez conducts three programs of works either right up his alley (Debussy's ''Jeux,'' Webern's Opus 6 Pieces, Bartok's Opus 12 Pieces and Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements) or right down the orchestra's (the Prelude and ''Liebestod'' from Wagner's ''Tristan und Isolde,'' Bruckner's Ninth Symphony and Mahler's Third) but not necessarily both. The chemistry should prove fascinating. March 2-4. Carnegie Hall. A related article is on Page 77.

PRAGUE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Before there was an Orpheus in New York, there was a Prague Chamber Orchestra, also conductorless, and though not heard in more than three decades, it is fondly remembered. Here it plays a program including Beethoven's Triple Concerto, with the Beaux-Arts Trio. The trio is also fondly recalled in a performance of that work from long ago, with the pianist, Menahem Pressler, working at least as hard as the unremembered conductor to make the thing work. March 2. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

LORRAINE HUNT LIEBERSON

Peter Sellars's direction of Dawn Upshaw in a staging of a Bach cantata, No. 199 (''My Heart Swims in Blood''), a few years ago was not a great success. Here, in a collaboration in Lincoln Center's Great Performers series that was postponed two years ago, Mr. Sellars expands the experiment with a singer of more volatile temperament, filling out the program with the Cantatas Nos. 82 and 170. March 6, 8, 10. John Jay College.

''NABUCCO''

Having dealt with a negative, by ditching that old production of ''Il Trovatore,'' the Met contributes an unalloyed positive to the Verdi year, with a new production of an opera not performed there in more than 40 years. Elijah Moshinsky directs, and James Levine conducts. The singers include Juan Pons in the title role, Samuel Ramey, Maria Guleghina and Marianna Tarassova. March 8. Metropolitan Opera House.

This band picks up where the Vienna Philharmonic left off, with Bruckner and Mahler: in each case the Seventh Symphony. Daniel Barenboim conducts and plays piano in Mozart's Concerto No. 26. The three programs also include Berlioz's ''Nuits d'Ete,'' with Cecilia Bartoli as soloist, Stravinsky's ''Rite of Spring'' and a new work by Augusta Read Thomas, ''Aurora.'' March 8-10. Carnegie Hall.

''THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS''

Sir Colin Davis conducts the New York Philharmonic and the Westminster Symphonic Choir in Elgar's great oratorio. March 8-10. Avery Fisher Hall.

''LA BOHEME''

Puccini's opera is a standby at the New York City Opera (as, of course, at the Met, where Franco Zeffirelli's bloated production returns this season), and a critic who saw the old production too often tends to suspect that it just plumb wore out. This new one, a co-production with Glimmerglass Opera, is directed by James Robinson. Opens March 10. New York State Theater.

MET ORCHESTRA

And here, in one of those charming little unofficial festivals that spring up unbidden in a New York season, is the third Mahler symphony at Carnegie Hall within eight days. The valedictory Ninth, conducted by James Levine, is an appropriate capper, and this performance may well be the last word. March 11. Carnegie Hall.

THOMAS QUASTHOFF

Even at less than his best, this bass-baritone can be impressive, as he proved recently, mildly indisposed in a recital at the Mostly Mozart Festival. Here, in works ideally suited to his style by Brahms and Schubert, he should be at his best, and in that case, expect the world. March 11. Alice Tully Hall.

SILK ROAD PROJECT

It is by no means clear yet what Yo-Yo Ma's multiyear multicultural enterprise will encompass, but here is an early manifestation: a cello concerto by Richard Danielpour bound to incorporate elements from the East, performed by Mr. Ma, Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic in a program with Rimsky-Korsakov's Orientalizing ''Scheherazade.'' March 14-17. Avery Fisher Hall.

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

Here is the main element in Lincoln Center's Stravinsky celebration. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the orchestra in works with piano, with Olli Mustonen as soloist, and the orchestra's New Music Group in works involving voice, with Sanford Sylvan as soloist. (There is also a symposium on March 17 in the Kaplan Penthouse.) March 16, 18. Avery Fisher Hall.

''ACIS AND GALATEA''

Here is Mark Lamos's other new production at the New York City Opera. Well, almost new; seen at Glimmerglass Opera last month, it caught much of the sparkle of Handel's delightful score: a brief masque, with a one-liner of a plot, rather than a full-blown opera seria. Christine Brandes and William Burden play the title roles, and Jane Glover conducts. Opens March 17. New York State Theater.

Valery Gergiev has done much to expand New Yorkers' awareness and knowledge of Russian opera with visits by the Kirov Opera of St. Petersburg. Now, in his capacity as principal guest conductor at the Met, he is expanding the company's repertory in like fashion. Temur Chkeidze directs the Met's first production of this work by Prokofiev, based on a Dostoyevsky novella. The cast includes Olga Guryakova, Elena Obraztsova and Vladimir Galouzine. Opens March 19. Metropolitan Opera House.

KODO

Memo to self: you intended to hear these mighty Japanese drummers on each previous visit, but conflicts arose; avoid conflicts. March 20. Carnegie Hall.

PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Maris Jansons, the conductor here, is said to be another favored candidate to succeed Kurt Masur as music director of the New York Philharmonic in 2002. So in two out of three eventualities -- if the Philharmonic has by now chosen Mr. Jansons or has not yet chosen anyone -- these concerts will take on added interest despite their odd mixes of repertory. March 21, 22. Carnegie Hall.

CHRISTOPH ESCHENBACH

Here is yet another appearance, this one with the New York Philharmonic, of a candidate to succeed Kurt Masur as music director, although the issue may well have been decided by now. In two weeks of subscription concerts, Mr. Eschenbach's first program offers Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto, with Tzimon Barto as soloist, and Stravinsky's ''Rite of Spring''; the second, Aaron Jay Kernis's ''Simple Songs,'' with Barbara Bonney, and Mahler's eminently unsimple Sixth Symphony. March 22-24, 27; 29-31. Avery Fisher Hall.

* PETER SERKIN

For all the imagination and devotion to 20th-century repertory lavished on the last season at Carnegie Hall, there was some narrowness of focus, a heavy stress on European modernism of a certain age, evident especially in the Perspectives series of Maurizio Pollini, Pierre Boulez and Daniel Barenboim. This season an American pianist is given a series, although a relatively brief one. With Oliver Knussen and the London Sinfonietta, Mr. Serkin performs in four concerts, with works by Takemitsu and Wolpe as well as Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Webern (another good dollop of vintage European modernism, to be sure), setting the scene for more recent creations by Charles Wuorinen, Peter Lieberson, Alexander Goehr and Mr. Knussen. March 26, 28, 30, 31. Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall. A related article is on Page 77.

CHOROVAYA AKADEMIA

Now that the liturgies and Vesper services of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff have become relatively familiar, at least among the happy few who have become attuned to the rarefied and transcendent world of Russian Orthodox sacred music, it is good to have other examples. Here, Alexander Sedov leads the Russian choir in Pavel Chesnokov's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and other music, in the Temple of Dendur. (Perhaps the room's intractable acoustics will work in this repertory.) March 26. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

April

CHARLES MACKERRAS

A sort of Prague Spring is brewing in New York, with notable performances of Czech music at both Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Here Mr. Mackerras conducts the Orchestra of St. Luke's, of which he is the music director, in Dvorak's Violin Concerto, with Kyoko Takezawa as soloist, his Seventh Symphony, and Janacek's ''Kreutzer Sonata,'' a string quartet arranged for string orchestra. April 4. Carnegie Hall.

''THE BALLAD OF BABY DOE''

The New York City Opera was once a haven for American works, but this new production of Douglas Moore's rustic opera, directed by Colin Graham, arrives as the only American work of the season. Elizabeth Futral takes the title role, which Beverly Sills introduced to the house in 1958. The strong cast also includes Joyce Castle and Mark Delavan, and George Manahan conducts. April 8. New York State Theater.

''ST. MATTHEW PASSION'' Staging Bach's masterpiece may seem on the face of it an odd notion, but Jonathan Miller's deft production at BAM in 1997 succeeded in lifting the work beyond the reach of routine and giving it fresh impact and relevance. As such. this production may be just what is needed after the excesses of a Bach year, a dimension that makes its return all the happier. April 8. BAM Harvey Lichtenstein Theater, 651 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn (718-636-4100).

''LULU''

Alban Berg has been served well at the Met in recent decades in quality if not necessarily in quantity. James Levine's outings with this work, which is now back for five performances, have been so memorable that it comes as a surprise to find that the opera has not been performed at the Met in a dozen years. Christine Schafer sings the title role. April 9. Metropolitan Opera House.

ROBERT TAUB

This fine pianist continues his survey of the Beethoven piano sonatas, begun last season, with discussions as well as performances. April 17 (also May 1 and May 15). Merkin Concert Hall.

H. K. GRUBER

You have to love a composer who wrote a work called ''Frankenstein!!.'' But Mr. Gruber, an idiosyncratic Austrian already famous in Central Europe, is more than a composer. He is also a singer, a double bass player and a conductor. In fact, he beomes the first guest conductor the Eos Orchestra has had in its five-year history, here leading a program of his own music and that of Kurt Weill. April 19. Society for Ethical Culture, Central Park West at 64th Street (212-691-6415).

ANDREAS SCHOLL

This German countertenor somewhat overpowered his vocal-soloist colleagues in a recent performance of Bach's B minor Mass at the Mostly Mozart Festival. Here, in his New York recital debut, he should easily fill an intimate room with his bright, flexible tone. April 22. Frick Collection, 1 East 70th Street (288-0700).

''ERWARTUNG''

Will there still be an opening by this time to succeed Kurt Masur as music director of the New York Philharmonic in 2002? Will David Robertson, who seems to lead the field of young American candidates for such positions and who may be in the running with the Philadelphia Orchestra, still be available? If so, the electricity should only be enhanced as Mr. Robertson conducts the Philharmonic in Schoenberg's compelling monodrama, with Francoise Pollet as soloist. The program is part of the orchestra's four-week commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Schoenberg's death, with the composer's works judiciously mingled with slightly less ambitious fare: here, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and the Prelude to Wagner's ''Tristan und Isolde.'' April 26-28, May 1. Avery Fisher Hall.

BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Yuri Temirkanov, who makes his first New York appearance as the orchestra's music director, conducts Russian music so well that it initially comes as a disappointment to find Prokofiev's ''Lieutenant Kije'' as the lone example in this program. But Mr. Temirkanov is also a versatile and experienced maestro, and he led a superb performance of Mahler's ''Resurrection'' Symphony in Baltimore last January, to open his tenure with the orchestra. Here he adds Grieg's Piano Concerto, with Lang Lang as soloist, and Dvorak's Eighth Symphony, which should give a good sense of how the orchestra is responding to new leadership. April 26. Carnegie Hall.

FESTIVAL OF CZECH MUSIC

Sir Colin Davis and the London Sympony Orchestra, now an annual fixture at Lincoln Center and the principal elements of this event, offer three programs of well-mixed Czech music and are joined by the orchestra's chorus in Dvorak's ''Te Deum'' and Janacek's ''Glagolitic Mass.'' Surrounding events include Czech films in the Walter Reade Theater (April 23) and a symposium moderated by Michael Beckerman, a specialist in Czech music (April 28). April 29, 30; May 2.

Whatever jots and tittles may be missed in the New York Grand Opera performance of this work in January are likely to be supplied here, by James Levine and the Met Orchestra and Chorus. The vocal soloists are Renee Fleming, Olga Borodina, Marcello Giordani, and Rene Pape. April 29. Carnegie Hall.

May

''MA VLAST''

Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra steal a march on the Festival of Czech Music taking place a few blocks away at Lincoln Center with Smetana's great masterpiece, ''My Homeland.'' What orchestra's strings would you rather hear in the flowing strains of ''The Moldau''? May 1. Carnegie Hall.

''GURRELIEDER''

James Levine and the Met Orchestra and Chorus speak the various idioms of the Second Viennese School like a native tongue, and Schoenberg's huge creation, given full scope under tight discipline, may overwhelm the listener here as never before. May 6. Carnegie Hall.

CLAUDE FRANK

Piano sonatas do not come much grander or more valedictory than Schubert's B flat and Beethoven's Opus 111, and Schubert and Beethoven pianists do not come much more inspired than Mr. Frank, who plays them here to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his New York recital debut. May 10. 92nd Street Y.

FABIO BIONDI

The New York Collegium improved markedly over its first two seasons, with a notable leap taking place in a 1999 concert led by this Italian violinist. So it should be all to the good that Mr. Biondi is taking charge this season as one of the ensemble's music directors. Here he presides over ''Virtuosita Italiana,'' a program of concertos and sinfonias by Nardini, Sammartini and others. May 10. Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street (212-840-2824).

''WAR REQUIEM''

The National Symphony Orchestra ends its season the way it began, with a festival: this time a British event, celebrating Leonard Slatkin's additional appointment as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra this season. (We've come a long way from the days when orchestras encouraged single-mindedness and loyalty in a music director.) Here Mr. Slatkin opens the series with Britten's great and moving masterpiece, with Christine Goerke, Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Alan Opie as vocal soloists. The festival continues, with more scattershot programs, until May 19. May 3-5. Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington (800-444-1324).

VAN CLIBURN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

It keeps coming around every four years, long after the last winner has been forgotten. Indeed, the sport at this competition that seemingly can't shoot straight lies in touting the underlings: trying to determine which of the early losers or also-rans might emerge with the big career almost infallibly denied to most of the nominal winners. May 25-June 10. Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall, Forth Worth, Tex. (817-738-6536).

''TWO PATHS''

The New York Philharmonic's magnificent violists Cynthia Phelps and Rebecca Young step forward at the orchestra's annual Memorial Day concert in the concerto written for them by Sofia Gubaidulina, and first performed last year. Kurt Masur and the orchestra fill out the program with Bruckner's Fourth Symphony. May 28. Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street (662-2133; 875-5656).

''THE DIARY OF ONE WHO VANISHED''

Here is a fascinating postscript to Lincoln Center's Festival of Czech Music: Janacek's haunting song cycle, newly translated into English by Seamus Heaney, staged by Deborah Warner, and performed by Ian Bostridge, a tenor of rare sensibility as well as gorgeous voice; Ruby Philogene, a mezzo-soprano who has yet to make a substantial impression; and Julius Drake, a fine pianist. This promises to be a truly memorable way to end the season. May 31; June 1, 2. John Jay College Theater, 10th Avenue and 59th Street (721-6500).